एवं क्षिपन् धनुषि सन्धितमुत्ससर्ज
बाणं स वज्रमिव तद् धृदयं बिभेद ।
सोऽसृग् वमन् दशमुखैर्न्यपतद् विमानाद्
धाहेति जल्पति जने सुकृतीव रिक्तः ॥२३॥

evaá¹ ká¹£ipan dhanuá¹£i sandhitam utsasarja
bÄṇaá¹ sa vajram iva tad-dhá¹›dayaá¹ bibheda
so 'sá¹›g vaman daÅ›a-mukhair nyapatad vimÄnÄd
dhÄheti jalpati jane suká¹›tÄ«va riktaḥ

 evam - in this way; ká¹£ipan - chastising (RÄvaṇa); dhanuá¹£i - on the bow; sandhitam - fixed an arrow; utsasarja - released (toward him); bÄṇam - the arrow; saḥ - that arrow; vajram iva - like a thunderbolt; tat-há¹›dayam - the heart of RÄvaṇa; bibheda - pierced; saḥ - he, RÄvaṇa; asá¹›k - blood; vaman - vomiting; daÅ›a-mukhaiḥ - through the ten mouths; nyapatat - fell down; vimÄnÄt - from his airplane; hÄhÄ - alas, what happened; iti - thus; jalpati - roaring; jane - when all the people present there; suká¹›tÄ« iva - like a pious man; riktaḥ - when the results of his pious activities are finished.


Text

After thus rebuking RÄvaṇa, Lord RÄmacandra fixed an arrow to His bow, aimed at RÄvaṇa, and released the arrow, which pierced RÄvaṇa’s heart like a thunderbolt. Upon seeing this, RÄvaṇa’s followers raised a tumultuous sound, crying, “Alas! Alas! What has happened? What has happened?†as RÄvaṇa, vomiting blood from his ten mouths, fell from his airplane, just as a pious man falls to earth from the heavenly planets when the results of his pious activities are exhausted.

Purport

In Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (9.21) it is said, kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaá¹ viÅ›anti: “When the results of their pious activities are exhausted, those who have enjoyed in the heavenly planets fall again to earth.†The fruitive activities of this material world are such that whether one acts piously or impiously one must remain within the material world according to different conditions, for neither pious nor impious actions can relieve one from mÄyÄ’s clutches of repeated birth and death. Somehow or other, RÄvaṇa was raised to an exalted position as the king of a great kingdom with all material opulences, but because of his sinful act of kidnapping mother SÄ«tÄ, all the results of his pious activities were destroyed. If one offends an exalted personality, especially the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one certainly becomes most abominable; bereft of the results of pious activities, one must fall down like RÄvaṇa and other demons. It is therefore advised that one transcend both pious and impious activities and remain in the pure state of freedom from all designations (sarvopÄdhi-vinirmuktaá¹ tat-paratvena nirmalam). When one is fixed in devotional service, he is above the material platform. On the material platform there are higher and lower positions, but when one is above the material platform he is always fixed in a spiritual position (sa guṇÄn samatÄ«tyaitÄn brahma-bhÅ«yÄya kalpate). RÄvaṇa or those like him may be very powerful and opulent in this material world, but theirs is not a secure position, because, after all, they are bound by the results of their karma (karmaá¹‡Ä daiva-netreṇa). We should not forget that we are completely dependent on the laws of nature.

praká¹›teḥ kriyamÄṇÄni
 guṇaiḥ karmÄṇi sarvaÅ›aḥ
ahaá¹…kÄra-vimÅ«á¸hÄtmÄ
 kartÄham iti manyate

“The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by nature.†(Bg. 3.27) One should not be proud of one’s exalted position and act like RÄvaṇa, thinking oneself independent of material nature’s laws.